Count Sámuel Teleki and His Reform Project: Comments on Habsburg Hungary in 1790 the Rebellions
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
MIRIAM LEVY (New York, U.S.A.) Count Sámuel Teleki and His Reform Project: Comments on Habsburg Hungary in 1790 The rebellions in Hungary and Transylvania which began at the end of Joseph 11's reign (1780-1790) led Count Samuel Teleki, whose career in public service spanned these revolts, to draft one of the most interesting reform proposals to emerge from the turmoil of the period. Scion of an old aristocratic family, Samuel Teleki (1739-1822) was in many ways the epitome of the enlightened aristocrat, yet not at all typical of the so-called "denational- ized" aristocrat whose life was completely centered around the court at Vienna. Today he is best known as the founder of the Teleki Library at Marosvasarhely (Neumarkt, Tfrgu-Mure;) in Transylvania. Built on entailed family property quite close to where Teleki was born and raised, this valuable library was just one facet of the count's efforts on behalf of Magyar language and culture,.1 A patron 6f numerous scholars, he did much to promote the advancement of Hungarian language and learning; and for many years he gave his support and friendship to Ferenc Kazinczy (1759-1831), the leading figure of the Hungarian literary revival. Teleki, who belonged to the learned societies of Gattingen, Jena, and Warsaw, was also a founding member of the first Hungarian learned society, the Transylvanian Society for the Cultivation of the Hungarian Language, which "concerned itself with almost all the more important questions in social science and natural science of the age of the Enlightenment."2 Teleki has been variously characterized as "the Nestor of our scholars,"3 and as "the Maecenas of the Magyars ... a Magyar Medici in miniature."4 Teleki's cultural contributions have proven the most enduring of his accomplishments. But to his contemporaries he was also known as a loyal supporter of the Reformed Church and its schools, and a statesman who devoted fifty-eight years of his life to public service. His strong advocacy of religious tolerance, a quality he shared with many of his fellow Transylvanians, is well-documented.5 His political activities, on the other hand, have been almost totally ignored. As a young man Teleki undertook a two-and-a-half-year Bildzmgsreise in Western Europe. He visited France and the United Provinces, but spent most of his time at the university in Basel, a frequent place of study for Magyar Protestants. Here he learned German and French and studied law, history, and mathematics. After his return he served in various local and provincial offices in Transylvania; and with the publication of Joseph 1. The only Western-language discussion of the Teleki library is Maria Turzai, "Un trésor de l'epoque des lumieres en Transylvanie: la bibliotheque de Samuel Teleki 1 Revue Roumaine d'kistoire, V, 2 (1966), 341-354. 2. Elemer jancs6, As Erdelyi Magyar Nyelvmuveld TarsasdgIratai (Bucharest, 1955), p. 5. 3. Kazinczy Ferencz Levelezise, 23 vols. (Budapest, 1890-1960), XVI, 5. 4. Karoly Kiss, Farkas Kilm?n, and Guszt?v Brunner Bier, Uj MagyarA thends(Budapest, 1887), p. 439. 5. See, for example, the documents in Elem6r Malyusz, Sdndor Lip6t foherceg nidor iratai 1790-1 795 (Budapest, 1926), passim. , 153 11's Toleration Patent in 1781, Teleki-a Calvinist-became eligible for office in Hungary aswell. The two most important positions held by Teleki were High-Count (comes superior, of Bihar county in the Kingdom of Hungary and Chancellor of the Grand Principality of Transylvania. He was named High-Count of Bihar in 1784, and his life became closely bound up with this county, where members of his family had owned land since the time of their settlement in the Lands of the Crown of St. Stephan.8 A year later Joseph II abolished the counties as administrative units and divided the kingdom into ten districts. Bihar became part of the Ninth, or Nagyvarad (Grosswardein),' district,9 and Teleki became Royal Commissar of this new administriative entity. Then, in the mid- 1780's, Transylvania was badly shaken by a bloody peasant uprising. In the aftermath of the rebellion, a number of personnel changes were made in the government of the Grand Principality and Samuel Teleki became Vice-Chancellor of Transylvania. Teleki was occupied with the affairs of both his offices when the discontent smoldering in the Habsburg lands began to erupt. In 1789 when the revolution began in France, the Habsburg Monarchy was already in turmoil. Joseph II, one of the most enlightened of the eighteenth-century monarchs, was also one of the most absolute. Zealous in the pursuit of reform, he had often acted in direct violation of the traditions and laws of his lands. As a result, from the Austrian Netherlands to Croatia, from the Italian provinces to Galicia, from Tyrol to Transylvania - his policies led to widespread discontent and in some cases open rebellion. The most serious situations were in the Austrian Netherlands and in Hungary. In both cases the rebels were receiving covert encouragement from Prussia. The Belgian lands, geographically remote from the rest of the Monarchy, would gain their final indepen- dence from the Habsburgs a few years later under the aegis of revolutionary France. Hungary was far more central to the Habsburg Hausmacht and potentially just as explosive. Here the revolt was led by the county-based, untitled nobility-or gentry-who had been badly injured by most of Joseph's reforms. In Bihar as elsewhere, these nobles had lost much of their control of Hungary's political life through Joseph's refusal to convoke the Diet and his abolition of the counties. In addition, they were being damaged 6. Inter alia, the Toleration Patent allowed Calvinistsand Lutherans as well as Catholics access to _' public office throughout the Habsburgdominions. 7. The office of High-Countwas of medieval origin and was to some extent similar to the comes or Graf of the medieval German empire. In Hungary the comes superior or fdispan was a royal official appointed to administer the comitatus or varmegye (county) in the name of the king. Hungarian county administration also included a Vice-Count chosen by the county itself. These offices existed in Hungary from the time of St. Stephen until after World War II. (For a discussion of the origins and development of these offices see Henrik Marczali, Ungarische Verfassungsgeschichte[Tübingen, 1910 ] ;and Ferenc Eckhart, Magyaralhotrniny- isiogtbrtinet [Budapest, 1946 ] .) 8. Teleki came from the Garazda family which migrated into Hungary in the fifteenth century when the Turks overran the Balkans. Most of their estates were in Transylvania, but the family also owned land in severalHungarian counties and were thus eligible for office in the Kingdom. 9. The district was named for the administrative center of Bihar county, a town which today bears the Romanian name of Oradea-Mare.The entire district included the counties of Bihar, Szabolcs, B6k6s,Cs6ngr?d, Csanad, and Arad as well as the Great Cuman Territory (Nagy-Kunsag)and the Hajdu towns. .